Learning From The Outcast
by Steve the Icecube
Summary: Koschei is failing English. Badly. No one else seems to have much clue either. Well, except Theta Sigma. But no one even speaks to him.


Theta Sigma. The quiet kid, the one with anxiety problems and a smile that showed itself often but never quite reached his eyes.

Koschei. The outgoing kid, the one with buckets of enthusiasm and an almost constant, bright smile that never failed to warm his whole face.

No one expected them to be friends. No one wanted them to be friends. It just happened.

The air in the room was almost musty, and the light being filtered in through the small, dusty window was glowing slightly orange in the late afternoon light. The room was far from silent, the lecturer's voice, though the most dominating noise in the room, was mixed in with the murmuring of the bored young Gallifreyans, who were sitting at long wooden desks, each with their translators and note-takers out on the desks.

It was a simple enough lecture. The whole lecture, teaching English, was in said language, so almost every trainee Time Lord in the room had their translators on so they could at least understand what was being said. So, predictably, their lecturer turned them off.

A brown-haired teen leant over to see if the boy next to him had any useful notes. Theta Sigma, the boy who never concentrated, not in any class, but was top of every class.

And all his notes were in English. The boy almost scoffed. Typical know-it-all, writing the notes in another language.

"Theta." He whispered. "What's he saying?"

"He's talking about tenses." Theta replied warily.

"Can you tutor me in English?" He asked, making an instant decision.

Theta hesitated, but nodded, wariness still evident in his eyes. "In the library after classes." He said, and went back to taking notes that he clearly didn't need if he wrote them in English.

But then again, Theta Sigma didn't make sense. That was how the Universe worked.

Koschei was, admittedly, quite nervous about meeting Theta in the library. Talking to Theta Sigma was something that just wasn't done. He was the least liked person in possibly the whole Academy, and certainly in their year. His robes were worn, he acted in an odd manner, he acted like he was two different people at times, and he did well in class but never paid attention. But most of all, he was meant to be a very unpleasant person, and speaking to him was an unspoken rule.

And, because Koschei was failing English, he wanted to use his notes and get help in the subject from the same person. It didn't sound like a good idea at all.

So, Koschei was nervous. He truly hoped that Theta wasn't as bad as it was made out he was. He hadn't seemed that bad, nice enough, if surprised and a little suspicious that he was actually being spoken to.

Koschei got out of his seat and left his bedroom as quickly as he could, before he could opt out.

The library was Theta's favourite room in the whole Academy, and Arcadia, and his second favourite place on Gallifrey, not counting the TARDIS graveyard he went to in his spare time. The library was quiet and huge, with a seemingly endless supply of books he could read.

There were mostly the older, more serious scholars there, so Theta could usually find a secluded enough spot to read and do all his work in peace, but if Koschei (he thought that Koschei was the boy's name) was being genuine about his request for help (which was reasonable given his grades in the subject), then he'd have to be somewhere Koschei could find him easily.

He hoped Koschei was being genuine. There was a chance that the popular boy was leading a whole gang of other popular boys right here, where he could be harassed easily.

But Koschei could possibly be nice. Maybe. He seemed okay.

"Theta?" Theta jumped and span around.

Right. Koschei. Theta fumbled over the words. What was it here? Ah. Yes. "Apologies." Not sorry. Wrong language.

Koschei smiled and sat down next to Theta. "You were surprised. That's fine. You were surprised when I spoke to you earlier."

Theta felt his face heat up (not this again), and he fumbled with his bag and got his pad out. "You wanted help. What should I go over with you?"

Koschei frowned, his face showing mild confusion, and Theta blushed. "Sorry. I meant what should I teach you?"

Koschei almost wanted to laugh, seeing Theta struggle over the simplest of language. "You really aren't as clever as your grades show, are you?"

Theta sighed. "It's called a language barrier. You might have heard of it. Why do you think I take notes in English?" He snapped. "I thought that was one of the rumours going round about me. I'm not from Gallifrey. I was brought up somewhere else, in a different time period, in another galaxy. If you're going to make fun of the way I speak, you won't be getting any help. And I'm telling you now, I speak English better than Gallifreyans with a degree in it."

"Apologies, Theta. I didn't know that. I would like your assistance."

Theta nodded briskly. "Follow me." He said. "If we're going to practise English, we need to go somewhere a little more secluded."

"Show me what you know." Theta said. "Introduce yourself in English."

Koschei shifted in the comfier chair, looking around the indent in the wall and seeing no one but Theta. "'My...title is Koschei. I am one hundred and twenty Earth years...old?"

Theta grinned. "That was very Gallifreyan of you. You should have said; 'My name is Koschei and I am one hundred and twenty. Cut the whole title thing, you have to be a really important person to have a title, and saying years old takes longer and is pretty formal for someone who looks about fourteen in Earth ageing."

"You don't say cut or thing on Gallifrey." Koschei corrected.

Theta shrugged, then paused. "You don't even shrug on Gallifrey, do you?"

Koschei shook his head and smiled.

"Fair enough. I'll teach you English, you can teach me to be Gallifreyan."

"I can do that."


End file.
